D'AddarioZyex Violin Set Slv D 4/4 Med (DZ310S4/4M)

My strings had long been dead on my violin, and weren't great before they died either. They were far too bright and tinny, with a cutting, flat, and piercing sound. I decided on synthetic core strings because I thought that would help add depth to the violin and mellow it out a bit. My price range wasn't quite in the ballpark of Dominants, so I decided to go with these strings, even though nobody I knew played with them before. In particular I chose the silver D set because as the cello is my primary instrument, I'm a sucker for a hearty low end sound.First impression was that the A scared the crap out of me when stringing it up. The combination of a silk core and an aluminum wrapping makes the string feel like it is ready to snap while tuning. I had made sure to well lubricate the nut and bridge with a pencil before stringing, but it still had a horrible feeling to it. I got the string up to about a G, at which point the change in pitch relative to the amount I turned the peg dropped off, the exact sign that your string is getting ready to fail. After quadruple checking that it was indeed an A string, I finally just decided to bring it up to pitch. It got there eventually, but not without a large amount of sweat and nervous swearing on my part.The other strings went on just fine, and I got to play it for the first time. Immediately I noticed a huge increase in the sound from even when my last strings were new. The silver low end did exactly what I wanted, it brought out the deeper tones of the violin and made it sing clear and rich. The aluminum A takes a bit of getting used to, it has a tackier texture than that of a silver or chrome wound string, but the sound from it is surprisingly good. Unlike my last A which was shrill and piercing, this A has a lot more restraint in the sound. Warm and rich it matches the silver D and G particularly well on my violin. The E I feel is nothing to write home about, but is not the worst E I've played on. Perhaps it is the cellist in me talking, but nearly every E I've played hasn't been to my liking. However, the E provided blends moderately well, and while lacking the mellowing qualities of the lower strings, let's face it, who wants an E to mellow?Bow response is good, with the aluminum A being a tiny bit slower than the others. The difference is hardly perceivable while playing though, and it does not at all keep the A from slowing down a fast passage. The biggest thing to overcome will be shifting on the A, those who are used to harder metal windings may find it a bit unsettling at first, but good finger tip calluses will help with that.Overall these are great strings for someone looking for a powerful yet a bit more soothing sound. I recommend the silver D and G in particular, as the low end of violins seems to be a bit overlooked. If you can get these strings with a bit better E I would advise it, but the supplied E will do just fine if not.

This is the second time I've bought these after making the decision to only ever by these strings, and after reflecting on how happy I was with them, was inspired to come rant about them here in the form of writing.Miserable history of string use:I started with Classical violin and now predominantly play traditional Irish music, originally with D'Addario Helicore (fairly balanced, easy response) as my default string. One year I got fancy and decided I'd be a sucker and purchase the overly priced Pirastro Evah Pirazzis solely for the cool image design of the ladies face and rolling locks against the green background. Well, even though I saved the cool design string pouch, I ditched the Pirazzi strings. Even though they had a vibrant sound that may pay off with a mega high end instrument in a classical setting, they were not warm in tone or have any interesting depth (and as others often note the E string was kind of tin-y). Searching for warmth I tried Pirastro's other over priced product, the Obligatos. These also were nothing to write home to mom about.The happy ending:Finally I tried the Zyex, based on the reviews here which pointed to their rich tone, and my initial positive experience with D'Addario--and wow! Way better than the strings I tried that were three times the cost.-The response off the bow is lovely-The break in time is almost non-existent- I put them on before a band practice, and felt like normalafter an hour of jamming-Again, the warmth of the tone- I find myself playing better just to sap out the rich tone that I am not usedto being exposed toGreat strings!

These strings are my only choice for acoustic fiddle. The Silver D works great for me. The aluminum A Sounds best (better than silver or titanium) but is the first string to wear out. Nothing lasts forever. They are great and I will always use them as long as they are available.

I've been playing violin for 17 years now. I usually use either Evah Pirazzis or Tomastik Vision Solos for my instrument, but I heard good things about the Zyex so I decided to give them a try. The lower price was also a factor in my decision as well.My lord I don't know whether it's the synthetic core or what, but this string caused my instrument to PROJECT like it was nobody's business. It was like I turned the volume dial from 50% to 100%. It was really a nice surprise to hear that because my instrument is not a professional one by any stretch of the imagination. It's one I got when I was a student in 2008. It's only an intermediate student violin and it had a lot of power with the Zyex strings that I never knew it could have.Unfortunately, this new projection and power came at the cost of tone quality. There are a lot of songs that require a more sweet tone, and this string on my instrument really caused it to lose a lot more of the sweet sound quality than I would've liked. That's why I'm only giving it 4 stars and not 5.You can't deny it's a great value for the sound that you'll get, and if you don't know whether you want to take the jump to $100 Evah Pirazzis and the like, this string is a great intermediate option that allows you to test your violin's capability and whether you think a more expensive and better sounding string would be a sound investment (no pun intended). Definitely worth a try because it's different for every instrument and player!